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New Budget Cuts Funds For Abstinence-Only Sex Education

Jim Liebelt

Jim is Senior Writer, Editor and Researcher for the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University. Jim has over 25 years of experience as a youth and family ministry specialist, and has been on the HomeWord staff since 1998. He has served over the years as a pastor, author, youth ministry trainer, adjunct college instructor and speaker. Jim’s culture blog and parenting articles appear on HomeWord.com. Jim is a contributing author of culture and parenting articles to Crosswalk.com. Jim and his wife Jenny live in Olympia, WA.

2009May 12

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President
Obama's new budget would eliminate most money for abstinence-only sex
education and shift it to teen pregnancy prevention — a U-turn in what
has been more than a decade of sex education policy in the USA.

The
proposed budget, sent to Congress last Thursday, "reflects the
research," says Melody Barnes, director of the team that coordinates
White House domestic policy.

"In any area where Americans want to
confront a problem, they want solutions they know will work, as opposed
to programming they know hasn't proven to be successful. Given where
we've been in recent years, I think this is a very important moment,"
she says.

Abstinence-only sex education programs, which emphasize
a no-sex-until-marriage message, received almost $1.3 billion in
federal dollars from fiscal years 2001-2009, according to the Office of
Management and Budget. At the same time, studies of abstinence-only
programs have shown little success; the most often-cited study,
released in 2007, was congressionally mandated and federally funded and
found that abstinence-only programs don't prevent or delay teen sex.

Obama's
budget proposes almost $178 million for teen pregnancy prevention,
including $110 million for community-based programs. About 75% of that
is for programs proven to have delayed sex and increased contraceptive
use or reduced teen pregnancy. The other 25% could be for "innovative"
programs.

Obama "is open to innovation, and that could include abstinence-only if there is some indication it would work," Barnes says.